Reliable for professional work? (5Dm3)

[islandfilms]

I recently installed ML on my 5Dm3, and while the raw footage looked incredible, MANY of the clips I recorded were corrupted and couldn't be restored. As a professional, I would love to be filming in RAW without investing in another camera, but I can't risk losing half of my shots on a paid project.

Have you found ML to be reliable for raw video on the 5Dm3? Should I restore everything and re-install, or is some percentage of file corruption normal with Magic Lantern?

[SteveScout]

We had this topic recently. Yes, MLV is very stable and reliable by now IF you have the right cards. No, I would not use ML on a paid shoot, only as a B-camera which can be left out of the game if it breaks, gives errors, problems etc. - but an awesome B-camera.

I am sometimes even using it as a A-cam on highend commercials, but only if the client is not watching! ;-)

Are your cards fast enough? Try to make your vertical resolution smaller (crop) and check if the errors still occur.

[islandfilms]

I'm using the Komputer Bay 1000x 64GB that everyone loves for RAW, so I don't think the card is the issue. I'll try reinstalling ML again and seeing if that helps.

[Midphase]

Island,

You really need to use ML a lot, and get to know it inside and out to understand all of its quirks. If you do your homework (and unfortunately the majority of people don't), you can absolutely use it reliably on pro shoots.

On my last film shoot, we had perhaps the most reliable and smooth experience with ML on a 5D3. No corruption whatsoever, no weird black levels. Everything was solid and the audio syncs perfectly.

We had a couple of small issues on set. One of the CF cards started acting a bit funny and dropping frames about halfway through the shoot. I suspect the camera was running very hot and the card was affected by the temperature because when I got it home everything worked perfectly again. The 3 other CF cards did well through the entire shoot without problems.

The key is knowledge and preparation (and a DIT that really understands the format and knows how to check it and process it). It's not a plug-and-play system, it requires dedication to it, but if you're willing to roll up your sleeves and do your homework, it can absolutely be a very reliable and stable way to capture footage.


P.S.

I would also point out that high end cameras (particularly RED) are prone to failures in the field. Here's an oldie but goodie that will make your skin crawl:

[mannfilm]

5DM3 - shooting RAW since 2013 June, I have never had a problem with the footage. Check your card speed. There are scum on ebay and Amazon selling fake Komputerbay cards. I have heard unconfirmed rumors some KomputerBay 64gigs being defectively slow.

Pro use. Just my opinon, but if you are talking about pro use as in a budget (paid talent, crew, locations) you'd be nuts not to simultaneously use a external HDMI recorder. You cannot review your takes in RAW, and the external HDMI gives you usable backup if there is some type of problem. Same with  locations or events you cannot re-shoot quickly and for free. For casual, non-budgeted shoots, I usually leave the Ninja at home, but I would never, ever, not use it on something that would cost me money or time for a re-shoot.

[spnsir]

You cannot review your takes in RAW

Yes you can (minus audio). If you don't have this option, install a nightly and enable the MLVplay module (and optionally the fileman module as well to access files via the file manager)

[llirik]

I've shot a number of professional projects (and a few personal ones, which I use as a "test-bed"), and most recently, even over cranked the footage for 48fps. Worked out well.

The biggest issue i've had is filling up a card (without checking how full it is), and then usually the last clip is corrupt that stopped. Another minor issue is with external monitoring in that the monitor shuts of for 2 seconds on record, meaning all my clips have excess data at the start.

[jgerstel]

You can use it as a pro if you pre-define mitigation of your risks: run out of storage and stability. Here is my 2 cents:

Using komputerbay 1000x ML raw works the best for me. However keep in mind you can record only 12 minutes on one 64GB card. For a pro shooter this can be an issue... unless you are able to use many cards or have offloading solution near by: I would suggest to have a laptop & storage there to "rotate" CF cards and do the DNG conversions on set. At the end of a daily session you have your storage pre-filled with DNGs and you can deliver to post. If you do not have that option and you need to shoot all day long, then I would switch back to old H.264 again.

Another issue is stability of the platform, sometimes it freezes and you need to get your battery out to restart. I am using "latest build" so if you use a proper release candidate it should be more stable and you should not get any freezes. So if you are in a "controlled"  set in which you can allow to redo or let people wait, then it is ok, but in case of sports (my situation) there is no chance of "redo"  so this can be a risk. In my case I use "breaks" or " timeout" events to swap cards & batteries which keeps the camera stable and you will not run out of CF storage space.

The great thing about raw is you can do a lot in post, use alternative resolutions for anamorphic shoot outs and image quality is so much better.